Applicator roll



March 1943- w. c. TOLAND EI'AL 2,312,853

APPLI CATOR ROLL Filed Feb. 26, 1940 I x l Patented Mar. 2, 1 943 arruca'ron non.

William cm; Toland and Ellis Bassist, Brookline, Mesa, assignors to William Craig Toland,

Brookline Masa, as trustee Application February 26, 1940, Serial No. 320,848

6 Claims.

This invention relates to rollers and more especially to rollers for applying materials t printing plates.

In addition to the usual ink rollers, it is customary in planographic printing to employ rollers for repeatedly applying mixtures of water and acid, or other fountain solutions, to the nonprinting portions of planographic plates during press operation. It is also the custom to make these fountain solution rollers of brass and other metals, and in many instances to cover the rollers with expensive fabrics, such as molleton and the like, which are required to be, sewed to the roll at a very considerable cost. Either the bare roll or a covered roll is not fully satisfactory due to the failure of such members to uniformly apply fountain solutions in continuous operation, and to avoid becoming grease-receptive. There tends to develop transfer of greasy ink from the printing plate to such applicator members, necessitating frequent scrubbing and other types of cleaning, which are time-consuming and expensive. Similarly, excessive costs and faulty operation are present with inking rollers.

It is a chief object of the present invention to improve applicator rolls and to devise novel fountain solution rollers which are adapted to more uniformly apply moisture or other fountain mixtures, which reduce transfer of grease from' printing plates, which do not require frequent cleaning, and which are much cheaper than either the metal or metal-covered rolls now employed. A further object of the invention is to improve inking rollers. The invention also aims to provide a novel method of continuously applying materials to printing plates.

Attainment of these and other objects of the invention will be readily understood from the following description when read in connection with the accompanying drawing, and the novel features will be more particularly pointed out in be first contacted by rollers carryingthe fountain solution, of which there are several. Thereafter the plate is inked and printed, this cycle of operations being continually repeated. If at any .time too much water is applied to the plate, ink

dilution may occur, with weak printing effects resulting, and similarly if the amount of moisture which is being delivered varies, there will be a corresponding variance in the quality of successive impressions. To provide uniformly limited amounts of moisture, metal rolls, as of brass, have long been employed, and to render these metal rolls more uniform in water reten tion and distribution, fabrics are fastened around them such as molleton above referred to.

In accordance with the invention, a substitute for either the metal rollers or fabric-covered metal rollers is provided, consisting in a roller I of any suitable composition such as metal, plastic, or other materials, which is provided with a coating 2 or layer of a hydrophilic or waterreceptive material. This may comprise a hydrophilic material of substantially uniform waterreceptive character such as for example polyvinyl alcohol, vinyl resins, or other materials.

The coating may be of any thickness, depending upon the degree of water receptivity which may be required, it being understood that the hydrophilic character of the coating may also be varied, in accordance with the amount of fountain solution to be applied. It will be noted that a coating such as described will constantly retain the solution within itself in an absorbed state and in such' a uniformly dispersed manner that more efiective repelling of grease is arrived at and the rolls do not become grease-receptive nearly asoften as is the case with either a metal or a. fabric-covered metal roll.

A further feature of the invention may consist in combining the coating 2 with a roller having the fabric cover above described, in which case the hydrophilic material becomes thoroughly impregnated in the fabric, materially improving its ability to distribute fountain solutions and further keeping the fabric'from becoming greasy.

as readily as occurs with the fabric in an uncoated state. It should be observed that in such a fountain roller surface the hydrophilic layer may be of a relatively thin character so as to allow the layer to conform to the grain or pattern of the fabric andfurther enhance the desirable action of the water-receptive film. It may also be desired to develop a grainedor roughened effect in the coating independently of the fabric as by providing a grained surface on a metal or other type of roller and conforming the coating directly to this grain. It may even be further desired to grain the surface of the coating after it has been applied to a' roller support.

the use of the reagents noted and others such as ferric sulphate, and cupric chlorider It may be desired to combine other materials for varying the characteristics and properties of a material receptive to fountain solutions, in the manner described.

It may be desired to employ intermediate base coatings with roller members for facilitating bonding of the hydrophilic coating 2 with the roller, as for instance with; some metals it may be desired to employ a resin which may exist in both hydrophobic and hydrophilic states, as for example urea formaldehyde resins which are of this character. Other means of facilitating association of a hydrophilic coating on a roller may be resorted to including the use of adhesives, graining, roughing operations, and other procedures. 1 y

A further aspect of the invention comprises the detachable sleeve to greatly facilitate changing the colors of inks on a press when a different job is to run. and the careful and time-consuming cleaning resorted to in connection with the rubber composition rollers is avoided.

It is intended that the use of resin coatings and other types of coatings of the character described, may be resorted to for applying materials to various types of printing members. It will be observed that the use of the coating presents several advantages. Greater uniformity in distribution of fountain solution is possible with the coating than is possible with any metal or fabric and metal combination. There is substantially less occurrence of scumming or grease transfer and consequently less requirement for cleaning operations. The expense of special fabrics such as molleton and the special expense of sewing the fabric, which is a highly skilled operation, are either eliminated or greatly reduced, and inasmuch as-in many plants considerable time is required to effect sewing and changing of molleton covers, this becomes an important factor. The use of the coating tends to allow formore continuous and efflcient press operation. .In addition, the coating may make possible greater latitude in the fountain solution mixtures which may be employed and improv modification illustrated in Fig. 2 which consists in a sleeve or cylinder 3 adapted to be clamped or tightly engaged over a roller support. It is proposed to prepare a sleeve of this character composed of various cheap materials such as paper, fabric or plastic, or combinations of these and other materials. This sleeve member is not only well adapted to receiving the hydrophilic coating 2, as has been indicated in Figs. 2 and 3, but may also be quickly assembled on and removed from a roller, and may be utilized with conventional rolls having outer coatings l of rubber or other substances. It may further be desired to make rollers of plasticmaterials or other compositions to receive the sleeve in place of the metal rollers now employed. It will be noted that with a sleeve member such as is described, frequent changing of the roller surfaces may be readily effected and removal of rollers from the press for, recovering with molleton or other fabric is reduced. More especially it becomes possible to assemble a fabric directly on the sleeve or cylinder and thus greatly reduce the expense of such recovering operations.

A still further feature of the invention relates to improving inking rolls. Difliculty is-experienced with the rubber composition rollers now employed owing to the fact that they do not apply ink aswell as more absorbent materials approaching the character of inking secured with a leather inking roller. In addition, the

Also, it is necessary to spend the quality of printing effected.

While there have been shown and described preferred embodiments of the invention, it should be understood that various other materials and constructions may be resorted to in keeping with the spirit of the invention.

' Having described our invention, we claim:

1. As an article of manufacture a fountain solution roller comprising a support, a fabric covering for the support, said fabric covering including a coatingof polyvinyl alcohol, said polyvinyl alcohol being water-receptive and water-insoluble.

2. As an article of manufacture, a fountain solution roller comprising a support and a coating associated with the support comprising a water-receptive polyvinyl alcohol and a urea.

formaldehyde resin. I

3. As an article of manufacture, a roll for distributing fountain solutions comprising a cylinder and a coating on said cylinder, said coating comprising a water-receptive, water-insoluble polyvinyl alcohol and ammonium bichromate.

4. As an article of manufacture a damping roller for a planographi'c printing press, comprising a cylindrical support, a sleeve element adapted to engage around the support, a coatin: of polyvinyl alcohol on said sleeve member, said polyvinyl alcohol being water-receptive and water-insoluble to provide a damping surface.

5. As an article of manufacture a covering for a planographic' damping roller comprising a cylindrical sleeve element of paper, said paper including polyvinyl alcohol of a. type which is water-receptive and water-insoluble.

6. As an article of manufacture a planographic damping roller which includes a cylindrical support, a coating of polyvinyl aZ-cohol on the support, said polyvinyl alcohol being water-receptive and water-insoluble.

WILLIAM CRAIG TOLAND. ELLIS BASSIST.

units described are 

